Educación fatal

This teen slasher flick doesn't try to be different from others in the genre, but it has everything to succeed : it has a hot female lead character, sex related scenes, and gore.

And for the girls : it features a young Brad Pitt.

The 3 main characters of the movie are well developed, and the ending may be predictable but it works. I don't recommend "Cutting Class" but it's a slasher flick, and that makes it watchable.

I think it'd be fair to say that, if Cutting Class didn't have Brad Pitt, the entire would would have forgotten about it in '89.

On the surface, the concept of Cutting Class isn't terrible. It seems like it would have potential to be fairly fun. Plus, we're given the fabulous Jill Scholen as our leading lady and her track record with horror projects is pretty solid from The Stepfather to Popcorn. Surely, she wouldn't sign on to a turkey, right?

Sadly, this is wrong. Very wrong. Poor Scholen has very little to do, nor does the rest of the cast, including a very strangely placed Martin Mull and Roddy McDowell who must have owed someone a favor.

The tone varies between weird comedy and bland slashings, but neither work well by themselves and they certainly don't gel well together. Maybe the script read better than the film turned out. It's also shot with zero style and looks like an impossibly bland TV movie.

Cutting Class isn't worth a revisit. Bank some erasers together instead.

High school slasher movie, both students and teachers are getting bumped off by an unknown killer. The Golden Age of the slasher movie was well and truly over by 1989 but there were still a few being made. Somehow Cutting Class passed me by, until I recently picked up an old copy on VHS. Although not particularly gory there are a few inventive deaths, though it takes a while to get going. There is a lot of humour to be found, very cheesy, but it helps make for easy, reasonably entertaining, simple viewing. Roddy McDowall puts in a decent performance but this movie is best known as being Brad Pitt's first major role. He was 26 when this was released but his boyish good looks almost make his teenage character believable. Don't expect too much from Cutting Class and you will not be disappointed.

A psychotic youth is released from his mental confinement and murders start happening all over a huge high school. Teachers, an assistant principal, and some coeds meet deadly ends in such various methods as impalement, burning in a kiln, axe to the head, slashing, and so forth. Is the crazed youth responsible, or is the murderer someone else? The ending is somewhat clever although in no way plausible. This is one of those eighties slasher flicks that does not know whether it is primarily a horror or a comedy. It DOES work better as the latter. The production is very nice and the film does boast some fine production values. The gore is limited despite the deaths, and the acting is adequate. The biggest flaw is the script which has more holes in it than a piece of cheesecloth. If you are able to put logic aside, the film can be a pleasant diversion. Certainly nothing more. Brad Pitt, Donavan Leitch, and Jill Schoelen star as the trio of youths the film centers around. Pitt is awful, though as one reviewer says he does not embarrass himself TOO much. Leith is suitably creepy, and Schoelen is beautiful if nothing else. The supporting cast is much better with the likes of Roddy McDowell, Martin Mull, Nancy Fish and other little known yet familiar faces. McDowell brings humour and class to his role as the principal, though he has very little to do. Mull is the funniest in his purely comedic role. In fact, Mull's performance has to make this a horror comedy rather than a horror film. Once you see the film you will understand why. Another bright spot is Brenda James, solely because she is one hot little number. So if you are looking for pointless, mindless fun...Cutting Class makes the grade.

"Cutting Class" is god awful, but it is soooooo funny. You and your friends have a better chance at scoring a laugh with this slasher flick than 90 percent of the films in the comedy section at the video store. The plot(if you can call it that)is about some murderer going around killing students, obviously nothing new. The suspects: Theres only two really, Brian(the former mental patient/creepy kid), and Dwight(the jock/main characters boyfriend). Its quite obvious which one of the two it is, but you dont even care about that stuff, you're watchin' for the laughs. Jill Schoelen is the main girl, Paula, and her Dad is on a hunting trip, and she has the house to herself, its not very safe. The movie stars Brad Pitt!! The rental price alone is worth the laughter you'll get from hearing him say "I'm bigger where it really counts." Jennifer Aniston, his wife, luckily cant throw this movie in his face, shes got Leperchaun under her belt. This film contains no sex, but it does try to spice it up: A cheerleader decides not to wear panties at The Big Game, Paula washes her hair wearin nothing BUT panties, and the principal makes Paula bend over to pick up her new cheerleading uniform so he can check out her rump. The gore is cheap and fake(impalements, axes in the head, hammers in the head), the acting sucks (although this film has some semi-decent names attached:Brad Pitt, Donavon Leitch, Martin Mull), and its SO 1980's. Dont hop to the conclusion that I'm trash for seeing this flick, I saw it on TV. You're not trash for renting this for laughs, you're trash for renting it for scares.



Lower your expectations, rent, and laugh!